


Sleepless

by Seagoatink



Series: Calm of the Storm [2]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Drabble, F/F, Fluff, Heavy - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-11
Updated: 2016-04-11
Packaged: 2018-06-01 15:09:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6525253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seagoatink/pseuds/Seagoatink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When she returned the door closed quietly behind her with the near-silent whir of mechanics ensuring the cabin was sealed shut. The asari held the blanket from her bed in her arms and crept around the corner to make sure the commander was still asleep. But on the other side of the floor to ceiling shelf, Colby sat upright with wide eyes greeting her.</p><p>And when those hazel eyes noticed it was Liara, she watched as Colby’s chest fell and she sighed heavily. “Were… Were you hoping I was someone else, Colby?” She wondered gently as she continued around the shelf.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sleepless

Of all the places she was welcome to call home, Liara found comfort most on Normandy. It was always moving, soaring through space. Never in one definite location to be found. As the new Shadow Broker, it was a relieving thought. No one would know for sure where she was, and even then, either Shepard or her crew were sure to keep her safe. There was no place she would rather be.

With the reaper threat gone, she could relax a little more than during the war. But a majority of her energy was poured into relief efforts and reuniting bondmates and families. Every now and then she would dedicate “repurposed” stolen goods to rebuilding colonies or homeworlds. Some nights, Shepard would sleep in her room. Other nights, Liara would sleep in the commander’s cabin.

She had slept in her commander’s cabin of course. Colby had requested she take a break and have a night of cuddling and talking. It was not a rare event by a long shot, but it was a relaxing evening nonetheless. It was a surprise to wake up and find Shepard face down at her desk. Arms folded over each other to cushion her head. She hadn’t bothered to put a shirt back on either, and she was hunched over enough to make her stomach roll up against itself.

If she hadn’t appeared to be so disheveled, Liara might have thought to call her cute. “Shepard?” She asked as she scooted out of bed with the blanket wrapped around her shoulders. The blanket dragged quietly across the floor, the sound much quieter than her footsteps, but both were overpowered by the water of the fish tank that illuminated the cabin. “Colby?” She questioned again and placed a hand on the human’s arm. “Are you alright?” But she continued to sleep.

On her desk lay several data pads. Each one was loaded with information on different people from different races. Liara was quick to pick up the pattern. They were filled with people from colonies, planets, ships, and the like that her bondmate had saved. The asari knelt down beside Colby, only to find a framed portrait on the woman’s lap. Liara snuck it from the commander’s lap to find that it was a portrait of herself.

Carefully, she placed it back on the desk where Colby was resting her head. Liara took the blanket from her shoulders and draped it over the commander’s sleeping form. Then she walked across the room to the nightstand and put Colby’s sweatshirt and sweatpants on over her camisole and shorts that served as her pajamas. She returned to her girlfriend’s side to kiss her temple and whisper, “I’ll be back in a moment,” before leaving the commander’s cabin.

When she returned the door closed quietly behind her with the near-silent whir of mechanics ensuring the cabin was sealed shut. The asari held the blanket from her bed in her arms and crept around the corner to make sure the commander was still asleep. But on the other side of the floor to ceiling shelf, Colby sat upright with wide eyes greeting her.

And when those hazel eyes noticed it was Liara, she watched as Colby’s chest fell and she sighed heavily. “Were… Were you hoping I was someone else, Colby?” She wondered gently as she continued around the shelf.

“I…” Shepard muttered, turning her gaze away from her girlfriend. She saw Liara’s portrait was back on her desk and she quickly snatched it away and held it to her chest. Her face was reddening.

“I understand if you don’t want to talk about it,” Liara responded, trying to act as though she hadn’t noticed Colby’s actions. Still, the thought that her bondmate hoped someone else had come through the door was disheartening to say the least. At the same time, she was reassured by Colby’s secretive admiration of her. 

The woman shook her head and stood up. In the same motion, she managed to lay the portrait back on her desk. The blanket fell from her shoulders as she stepped away from the chair where she had fallen asleep and the missing weight seemed to startle her. Colby checked either side of her before realizing that she had had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

Liara offered a smile. “I was worried you would get cold,” she said.

Colby grinned without a single worry or care about looking too stupid. It was an expression Liara had fallen in love with the first time she saw it fastened on the commander’s face. Her teeth were nowhere near straight and she even had a large gap on her right side. But it was a lovable expression that never failed to falter a bad mood. It was as though any motion Liara made proved she loved Colby and Colby in return always acted as though it was the best thing to ever happen to her.

“I should have just woken you up to talk about it, Liara. But I didn’t want to wake you up. I know it’s cliché but you were sleeping so peacefully and I didn’t want to disturb you. And then I started thinking a lot, and I get lost in my thoughts sometimes, you know? But it wasn’t all bad. This happens a lot, to be honest, so I have all these archives on people who are still alive and a lot of them are still alive because of me-”

“Colby,” Liara said, wrapping her arms around the woman’s waist. She leaned forward, touching her forehead to Shepard’s. “You’re rambling…”

“Liara, it’s not that I didn’t want to see you come from the other side of the door,” breathed Shepard as she looked up ever so slightly into the asari’s eyes. “It just…” She rested her arms over Liara’s shoulders and closed her eyes in attempt to relax. There was Liara, the most beautiful, wonderful person that had happened to her life right in front of her. She had to remember that. Commander Shepard was never alone in the universe and it was easy for her to forget that fact. “As much as I hated my mother, I still expect to see her on the other side of the door. We never had that kind of relationship. Hell, I don’t ever remember being on good terms with her…. But now that she’s dead, I want it.”

That was something Liara had not expected to hear. She knew Shepard had never had much of a relationship with her family. In fact, they were the reason she joined the military in the first place. She had shared with Liara how excited she was when she received her first recruitment call from the Navy. How that was her first sign of hope to actually live her life rather than go by someone else’s “lame as fuck plan” for her future.

Thinking further on the subject, Liara found it was similar to her feelings with her own mother. “I believe I understand how your unresolved relationship with your mother is causing you trouble, Shepard,” she admitted. “To be honest, I was not expecting such a response from you.”

Shepard guided Liara back over to the bed, snagging her blanket with her foot and dragging it behind her. “I think about having kids a lot and it makes me think of my parents and my family.”

“How so?” Liara said, urging Colby to continue her thoughts out loud.

“I ran away because of them, and I never stopped fighting because of them…” Colby crab-walked up the bed to give Liara enough space to stretch out. “I don’t want to put any kid we may have through that,” she decided aloud. “Most of all, I don’t want to be like them.”

The asari kissed her lover’s lips and smiled before rolling onto her back. “It seems as though they set the bar very low, Colby. I have no doubt in the galaxy that we will be better than them.” She turned to watch in amusement as that fearlessly stupid smile crawled onto the commander’s face yet again. Liara could feel positive energy radiating from Colby and could not hold back a joyful giggle. She rolled back over on top of the human and kissed her lips.

Colby wrapped her arms around Liara, pulling her down and smothering her with kisses wherever she managed to land them. The asari’s timid giggling grew into full-fledged laughter as Colby rolled on top of her and continued to bombard her girlfriend with kisses. “I don’t think you know how much you mean to me,” she said before kissing Liara’s lips once more.

“You once told me that I was your sun and your moon and water in the garden of your life.”

“I think that says it all.”

**Author's Note:**

> Send a prompt to my writing/art blog skeletalmergoat.tumblr.com/ask
> 
> I'm on bed rest because of pain so I literally have nothing better to do.


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